Authentication and evidential force of last wills in late 16th – 17th centuries in Scotland, in the light of the Ius Commune doctrine

The article is based on the PhD research of the last wills, preserved in the Scottish archives. The article concentrates on the period immediately following the Reformation of 1560 and into the 17th century. This was a crucial period, when Scottish secular courts took over the jurisdiction over testaments from the pre-Reformation ecclesiastical courts, which was key to the establishment of the rules on authentication and evidential force of writings and especially of the last wills in Scots law. The article looks at these developing rules in the light of the contemporary Continental Ius Commune doctrine, noting both influenced and unique features of the Scottish practice. The method employed is the doctrinal legal historical method